NumenOn the Water
The Rapala didn’t turn out to be the answer, but targeting fish well off the bottom seemed to be a good part of it; I got a few more on the sweetened rainbow Northland slab (maggots); the biters were about 20 feet down over 35 feet of water or so. The last two were nice crappies at 10 and 11 inches or so. Just as I got into a productive groove, the bite stopped. “Plankton” activity generally increased as the light dwindled, and I marked more and more fish near bottom; but the bites disappeared for both of us.
What do I have to say about this?
As we prepared to leave, another fisherman set up with his shanty and lantern; perhaps it’s a night bite. Maybe we’ll find out some other evening. Regardless, it was a pleasant outing with a buddy with whom I’ve not fished since last April. We were both pleased to share it, and he reported that the crappies tasted fine later that evening.
Date: 1-22-15
Body of Water:
McEwen Lake
Boat: None, ice
fishing
With: KS
Target: Pan
fish
Time: 4:20
PM – 6:20 PM
Conditions: Quiet, gray, and about 30 F; about 8 inches of
snow-covered ice. Nobody else out there
(until the end), but there had
obviously been a fair amount of fishing activity in the basin, including some
“fresh” holes from earlier in the day.
This was a quick, targeted
weekday excursion with newer tactics on a relatively unfamiliar lake. I’ve never targeted suspended pan fish in the
basin of this lake, nor have I ever taken a quality fish from McEwen in 3
previous ice-fishing trips. But it has
something of a local reputation for pan fish, and KS has a long history of
fishing there. Plus, it’s a pretty lake
and fairly convenient. It also offers
some Arracuda potential and is a
current alternative to (stingy) Reeds
Lake.
We went “light” once again
and took advantage of our early start to stop at J&S Auto/Bait. They had a surprisingly good variety of bait
available, and we left with a couple of dozen crappie shiners to complement my
colored maggots.
KS’s cry of “Whoa! Whoa! Whoa! Dog sh*t!” caught my attention as I
unloaded gear from the truck, and I narrowly missed depositing my sled directly
on a nice fresh pile. An (in-)auspicious start to the trip (you can decide); but soon enough we were
safely on the ice.
We walked past some open
holes from earlier in the day (I should
have scoped them with the sonar) as we proceeded to KS’s starting point of
confidence. This turned out to be in
30-35 feet of water and we started marking fish/activity right away. Per usual, I started with the pimple, but the
fish were clearly negative towards it. I
started to wonder if these were crappies or gills. I down-sized through the
Northland slab spoon to a tear-drop and maggot, and cycled through a few holes. The fish were tough! I reversed gears and dared them to bite a
jigging Rapala with pinched minnow head; and soon a fish rushed up off the
bottom and struck. It turned out to be a
dink crappie, but at least now I knew that I was fishing over crappies.
 |
| OK, I'll stop taking these remote sonar photos; but you can see the power of this ice unit. Fish on! and others waiting to be caught. |
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| The night's first fish was a small crappie, but at least it told us what to fish for. |
The Rapala didn’t turn out to be the answer, but targeting fish well off the bottom seemed to be a good part of it; I got a few more on the sweetened rainbow Northland slab (maggots); the biters were about 20 feet down over 35 feet of water or so. The last two were nice crappies at 10 and 11 inches or so. Just as I got into a productive groove, the bite stopped. “Plankton” activity generally increased as the light dwindled, and I marked more and more fish near bottom; but the bites disappeared for both of us.
 |
| A couple of nice, double-digit crappie came through the hole, but it was over just as it got started. |
What do I have to say about this?
As we prepared to leave, another fisherman set up with his shanty and lantern; perhaps it’s a night bite. Maybe we’ll find out some other evening. Regardless, it was a pleasant outing with a buddy with whom I’ve not fished since last April. We were both pleased to share it, and he reported that the crappies tasted fine later that evening.
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